[Elecraft] Using K3's Pre-amp

[Patrick Skerrett]

Thanks for the reminder about this article Don. I just re-read it this 
morning. Looks like an easy and cheap project to do.

If you QRZ my call, you'll see I'm smack dab in the middle of the city 
and the noise here is pretty rough. An antenna like this permanently 
wired into the RX antenna jack would be a big improvement for me I 
think. I've already got a tripod and rotor on the roof so I'll look into 
getting one of these up if/when the snow ever stops....

Thanks again,

W9PDS





Don Wilhelm wrote:
> Dave,
>
> Whether you need the preamp will depend on your antenna.
> Without involving any numbers, a quick test is to disconnect and then 
> reconnect the antenna.  If the noise level increases when the antenna is 
> connected, the radio has ample front end gain (in fact it may be too 
> much - try it with the attenuator in too).
>
> Your noise level does seem very high, so as Wayne suggested, you may 
> want to try a low gain directional receiving antenna should you want to 
> work the weak ones.  There was one featured in QST for December 2008.  
> Alternately, snoop out the neighborhood for the noise source and fix it 
> if you can.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR